D8 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2019
open up. While Rangers goalten-
der Henrik Lundqvist got over
pretty quickly, Oshie was able to
get three swift whacks at t he puck
until it slipped past Lundqvist, off
the skate of defenseman Marc
Staal and in. He got flattened by
Jacob Trouba in the process.
“You see him whacking away a t
that puck tonight, but he stays in
there, and if you keep watching
the video, after the puck goes in
he is still standing there and he
gets run,” f orward Garnet Hatha-
way said. “But that’s just Osh. He’s
not leaving until it goes in.”
Oshie said he doesn’t have a
specific goal benchmark this sea-
son after scoring 25 last year —
“just more.” He had a drought
during the team’s Stanley Cup
season, only scoring 18 goals in
2017-18, but a year prior he had a
career-high 33. He suffered the
fifth concussion of his career last
season and a broken collarbone in
the playoffs.
“Obviously playing here, play-
ing with some pretty world-class
players, I’ve been able to get 25
and over other than the one year
when I had that big drought,
which ended up being okay since
we won the Cup,” Oshie said. “But
really just more.”
Reirden knew the strict limita-
tions Oshie was under while he
played seven seasons in St. Louis.
But in Washington, the coaches
allowed him to be more creative
and make more plays with the
puck. Oshie described his first
two years with the Capitals as an
adjustment period for the better.
With relatively free rein, he’s
seeing the benefits.
“My first couple years, it was a
learning curve on not having that
coach’s voice in the back my head
saying, ‘You have to chip the puck
here, don’t make that move, don’t
stickhandle,’ ” he said. “Whereas
they are now saying, ‘Trust your
talent and make plays.’ ”
[email protected]explained. “It’s being around the
net more and letting my c reativity
and my hand-eye coordination
just give me the opportunity to
score more goals or get more tips
or create more offense, more scor-
ing chances. I feel like I did a fairly
decent job at getting to the net
front before; I think there is just a
little bit more emphasis now.”
This season, Oshie said, he’s
more actively seeking scoring op-
portunities and “not necessarily
looking to support” a s much as he
did before. Ty pically on a line
with center Lars Eller and Jakub
Vrana last season, Oshie knows
their ability to win one-on-one
matchups. So at the worst, he
said, being at the front of the net
occupies a defender and, in turn,
benefits his entire line.
Reirden said some players
need to stand in front of the net
and serve as a screen, but Oshie
immediately becomes an offen-
sive option because he has the
mind-set to go toward that area
instinctively.
“He’s getting to the side of the
net that he knows defensemen
that can’t shoot it on net will
shoot it to him as a ‘side-of-the-
net tip,’ ” Reirden said. “He’s add-
ed that element to the game, and
our defensemen know he will be
there, too. So it has expanded our
scoring area for us.”
But crashing the net and being
able to create more scoring
chances aren’t easy on the body.
Even with his smaller stature, as
center Nicklas Backstrom point-
ed out, Oshie is able to use his
toughness to withstand the physi-
cal toll. At any given second in
front of the net, Oshie will be
getting hacked or crosschecked
on the back or calves. It’s not a
glamorous position, but grit is a
key part of Oshie’s game.
“The guy’s not scared of any-
thing, so he’ll take beatings to
stand in there,” goaltender
Braden Holtby said. “Sometimes
when you have [John Carlson and
Alex Ovechkin] up there, the puck
can go wild, too. He just stands
right in there and doesn’t even
flinch and is fearless. When you
do that and have the skills that he
does, that’s a pretty good combi-
nation.”
During the team’s 5-2 win over
the New York Rangers on Friday,
Oshie scored two power-play
goals. The first came after he
stood firm at t he net front waiting
for a quick tip opportunity. He
collected a pass from Backstrom,
who patiently waited for a lane toBY SAMANTHA PELLWashington Capitals Coach
To dd Reirden approached T. J.
Oshie during the offseason with a
proposition. Reirden knew the
32-year-old winger was spending
more time practicing near his
Virginia home than in years past,
working with skills trainers dur-
ing the summer and trying to find
better chances to showcase his
offensive creativity in his 12th
NHL season.
One day, Reirden saw Oshie at
the rink and told him, “Hey, I
think you’re smart enough to cre-
ate stuff and done a good job, and
if there is ever anything you want
help with or suggestions, just
don’t hesitate to ask.”
Oshie texted him that night:
“Hey, if you have any suggestions,
I’m definitely open.”
Soon, the two got together and
looked at players around the
le ague who play a style similar to
Oshie’s, breaking down exactly
how they were creating scoring
opportunities. Reirden put to-
gether some analytics and a video
package that featured Joe Pavels-
ki, a 35-year-old now with the
Dallas Stars who can score
30-plus goals in a season just by
being around the net.
That s tyle of play, R eirden said,
is what Oshie needed to emulate
this season to increase his scoring
chances. So far, it has worked: He
has a team-leading six goals
through nine games.
“I think he’s doing a better job
of working from the net out as
opposed to working from out in,”
Reirden said. “I think that has
allowed him to create a bit of
space for himself so he can either
converge on rebounds more, tip
pucks away from the net and
actually just re-continue to rein-
vent himself as a player.”
Oshie always has had the confi-
dence to score, he said, but he
wasn’t allowing himself to get
consistent opportunities because
he was playing a “little too perim-
eter.” I n the offseason, Oshie real-
ized the bulk of his scoring was
more off the rush and cycling, but
he wasn’t happy with his play
around the net.
“It’s pretty simple,” Oshiehad not only Kyle Shanahan in
their building but S ean McVay, the
Super Bowl c oach of the L os Ange-
les Rams, and new Green Bay
Packers coach Matt LaFleur as
well. While many teams are hunt-
ing for the so-called “next Sean
McVay,” Snyder and Allen are go-
ing to be haunted that the real
McVay was working right down
the hall.
Because of this, many execu-
tives on other teams think Snyder
and Allen will have to look hard at
their offensive coordinator,
34-year-old Kevin O’Connell,
whom former coach Jay Gruden
had to promote two straight years
to keep other teams from snatch-
ing away.
“[O’Connell is] in a good posi-
tion considering the circum-
stances there,” said one executive,
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to offer a frank opinion
about another team’s coaching
situation.
“I think that’s a huge factor,”
another executive said. “Can you
afford to risk letting another guy
like that get away?”
With the departure of Gruden,
O’Connell is the Redskins’ play
caller. It is an audition of sorts,
although Snyder and Allen have
not said publicly whether O’Con-
nell will be considered for the
head coach’s job. O’Connell has
always deflected questions about
someday coaching a team, saying
last summer, “You’ve got to be
ready for w hen the time’s r ight.”
This is something the 39-year-
old Shanahan doesn’t h ave to wor-
ry about anymore. But his experi-
ence with the Redskins and the
fact he has won and seems happi-
er since could affect the thinking
of any young assistant who might
be courted by Washington. When
asked on the conference call what
advice he would give a young
coach being pursued by the Red-
skins, Shanahan picked his words
carefully.
“Just look into it, see what the
situation is and who you want to
work for,” he said. “I mean, any-
time you g et o pportunities, you’ve
got to look into it. But I’m not
there, and I don’t know how it is
right now.”
REDSKINS FROM D1 Then he gave another subtle yet
sharp swipe at S nyder and Allen.
“I’m probably not the person
[the aspiring coach] would want
to call o n that advice,” he said.
In recent years, a narrative has
emerged a bout the y oung coaches
on Mike Shanahan’s Redskins
staff. The story has come out pri-
marily because of the success Kyle
Shanahan, McVay and LaFleur
have had and runs counter to the
popular notion back then that
most of the team’s offensive ideas
came from the fierce, omnipotent
Mike Shanahan, who had been
feared by many in his previous job
as the Denver Broncos’ head
coach.
Rather than being wide-eyed
kids, tasting some of their earliest
NFL experience, Shanahan,
McVay, LaFleur and others were
actually innovators, running a
ki nd of football laboratory in the
shadows of a war that was waged
in the b uilding’s biggest o ffices.
“I don’t think those guys knew
that what was going on in there
was amazing,” said one person
who was in Redskins’ offices then,
speaking on the condition of ano-
nymity to provide a frank assess-
ment. The person made it clear
“those guys” were Snyder and Al-
len. “There was some exciting
stuff going on in there, but they
didn’t u nderstand what it was.”
The short version of Kyle Shan-
ahan, McVay a nd LaFleur’s s tory is
that they came in with Mike S han-
ahan in 2010 and set about
modernizing the run-first, pass-
second version of the West Coast
offense that Mike Shanahan used
in Denver. After Snyder forced
them to take Griffin with the sec-
ond pick of the 2012 draft, they
had to create a new system to
accommodate Griffin’s speed and
inability to fit in the Shanahan
offense. All the while, they were
experimenting with new plays,
ideas and concepts that they
would take with them t o their new
jobs when everyone but McVay
was fired after the 2013 season.
The result of those hours lives in
the combined 13-4 record of the
49ers, Packers a nd Rams this f all.
“We all became real good
friends,” Kyle Shanahan said this
week. “We were all very similar in
that we were young and we were
eager to learn. We were always
studying more stuff. And just be-
ing able to go through those four
years together, there were a lot of
ups and downs. You start out with
an offense you want to run, then
you learn that you’ve got to adjust
to a bunch of different personnel
to be able to do that stuff and try
things together.... I think we all
knew that we respected each oth-
er a ton.”
Perhaps the best part, Shana-
han said, was the competition. As
the young coaches tried to alter
Washington’s offense, they fought
to come up with the biggest and
best new ideas, each hoping to
prove his thoughts were worth
more than t he others’.
“We thought each other would
have great f utures after there, and
we enjoyed our time together,”
Shanahan said.
Asked whether he thought all
three of them would wind up as
head coaches so soon, Shanahan
paused.
“A lot of it has to do with luck,”
he said. “You’ve got to be on the
right teams [as a coordinator].
You’ve got to make sure you have a
good year when that happens so
you get your opportunities.
There’s got to be an owner that
wants to hire y ou.”
As Shanahan said this, he was
at the 49ers’ offices, almost as far
away f rom the R edskins’ facility as
one can be in the contiguous Unit-
ed States — his time there with
McVay and LaFleur a fading bad
memory. But the owner they left
behind is looking for another
coach, another start for a team
that has been unable to get going
for more than two decades now.
Two people familiar with Sny-
der’s thinking described him as
being stuck, unsure of what he
should do to bring the winning he
has always said he craves. So may-
be it was fitting that Kyle Shana-
han’s voice floated around the
Redskins’ facility again this week,
if only for a few minutes during a
conference call.
The ghosts of what he, McVay
and LaFleur once had there hover
heavy over t he uncertainty.
[email protected]Mark Maske contributed to this
report.For Shanahan, 49ers are 5-0
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POSTFormer Redskins assistants Sean McVay, left, and Kyle Shanahan have become winning head coaches.
BY DAVE SKRETTAChase Elliott i nsisted the week-
ly routine hasn’t changed a bit
within the Hendrick Motorsports
garages, the four teams swapping
information and ideas as if they
were preparing for any other race.
But their race Sunday at K ansas
Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.,
isn’t any other race — especially
for three of the t eam’s f our drivers.
Elliott is joined by Alex Bow-
man and William Byron outside of
the cut line for the round of eight
in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff.
Each still could mathematically
advance based on points, but real-
istically they all face must-win
situations to avoid elimination.
“Obviously one of us could
make i t and the rest of us couldn’t,
so there’s definitely more at
stake,” said Elliott, who was the
only Hendrick driver to advance
to the semifinals last season.
“I can’t b ow out of our c ompeti-
tion meeting, and I don’t think
any of the other guys would,” he
added. “We’ll continue to do our
parts, and however we use that to
our advantage is up to us.”
Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney
already won to lock up their
places in the next round, which
begins at Martinsville Speedway.
Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr.,
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are
reasonably safe based on points,
leaving Penske Racing teammates
Brad Keselowski and Joey L ogano
as the most vulnerable to falling
below the c ut line.
Bowman is 20 points behind
Keselowski and 18 in back of
Logano, while Elliott is another
four points adrift. Byron is five
more back.
“I think this is the toughest
round of 12 that I’ve been part of
in my four years for sure,” Elliott
said. “All 12 teams and drivers are
good that are left right now.”
Elliott qualified 14th on Satur-
day, two spots ahead of Bowman,
and Byron will start 25th. But it’s
hard to put too much stock into
qualifying efforts because there is
no practice before the race and
many teams eschewed raw speed
for a car that will handle better
when it matters.
Daniel Hemric, who was told
last month t hat Richard Childress
Racing would not pick up his
option for 2020, turned a lap of
178.047 mph to edge the retiring
David Ragan for the pole.Blaney will start third, Kesel-
owski fourth and Larson fifth.
l XFINITY SERIES: Brandon
Jones raced to his first series vic-
tory at Kansas after a lapped car
wrecked what was shaping up as
an entertaining duel between
playoff contenders Chase Briscoe
and Christopher Bell.
Ty ler Reddick finished second
and Briscoe rallied to third, while
Michael Annett and Justin Allgai-
er rounded out the top five.
After the race, Reddick scuffled
on pit road with Cole Custer, who
finished 11th. Custer put his hand
on Reddick’s shoulder, and the
two immediately grabbed at each
other’s throats as they tumbled to
the pavement. Crew members
from both teams jumped in with
NASCAR officials to try to pull
them apart.
“It’s fine if he wants to wreck
their cars and put their car in the
wall from time to time, but when
it’s me, I’m not going to be very
happy,” Custer said. “I went over
to say that.”
Reddick said he understood
Custer’s frustration but added, “If
you put your hand on me, I’m
going to put you on your back.”
— Associated PressNASCAR ROUNDUP
Hendrick hopes are in peril at Kansas
Oshie connects via net work
ASSOCIATED PRESSJack Hughes got the better of
his older brother. He h ad plenty of
witnesses, too.
The 18-year-old scored his first
career goal during his first NHL
game against his 20-year-old
brother, defenseman Quinn
Hughes, as the New Jersey Devils
beat the Vancouver Canucks, 1-0,
on Saturday in Newark.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped
25 shots for his third career shut-
out, sending New Jersey to its sec-
ond straight victory after starting
the s eason with six straight l osses.
Jack Hughes played in his
eighth NHL game after he was
selected by New Jersey with the
top pick in this year’s draft. He
became the first player to score h is
first NHL goal in a 1-0 regular
season game since Andreas Atha-
nasiou for Detroit against Wash-
ington o n Nov. 1 0, 2 015.l AVALANCHE 6, LIGHT-
NING 2: Tyson Jost had three
goals, Pavel Francouz made 44
saves, and C olorado won in Tampa
to remain the only team without a
regulation loss.
Colorado’s 7-0-1 start is the
second-longest season-opening
point streak in franchise history,
behind the 9-0-2 start in 2000-01.
l GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3,
PENGUINS 0: Marc-Andre
Fleury stopped 29 shots against
his former t eam, leading Vegas to a
shutout i n Pittsburgh.
Fleury recorded his 445th win,
tying Te rry Sawchuk for seventh
on the NHL career l ist. Fleury, w ho
made his second career start for
Vegas against the Penguins in
Pittsburgh, also registered his
57 th career shutout.
l ISLANDERS 3, BLUE
JACKETS 2 (OT): Brock Nelson
scored 33 seconds into overtime t o
lift New York t o a victory in Colum-
bus, Ohio.
Nelson beat Joonas Korpisalo
from the slot off a feed from Nick
Leddy to give the Islanders their
fourth straight w in.l STARS 4 , FLYERS 1: In Phil-
adelphia, Roope Hintz, Esa Lin-
dell and C orey Perry scored to help
Dallas snap a five-game s kid.
Ben Bishop stopped 38 shots to
help the slow-starting Stars im-
prove t o 2-7-1.
l MAPLE LEAFS 4, BRUINS 3
(OT): Mitch Marner scored a t 3:54
of overtime to vault To ronto past
visiting Boston.
Marner’s winner came when he
took a feed from A uston M atthews
and ripped his fourth goal of the
season past Boston g oalie Jaroslav
Halak’s blocker.
l COYOTES 5, SENATORS 2:
Conor Garland had a goal and an
assist, Antti Raanta stopped 34
shots, and surging Arizona out-
lasted Ottawa in Glendale.
l PANTHERS 3, PREDA-
TORS 2 (SO): Vincent Trocheck
scored the deciding goal in the
shootout to vault Florida in Nash-
ville.
l CANADIENS 5, BLUES 2:
Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan
Drouin and Nick Suzuki scored in
the s econd p eriod a s visiting Mon-
treal beat St. Louis.NHL ROUNDUPNew Jersey’s Hughes outduels brother
SCOTT TAETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
T.J. Oshie, who drilled over the summer to increase his scoring chances, has six goals in nine games.DEVILS 1,
CANUCKS 0CAPITALS’ NEXT THREEat Chicago BlackhawksToday7 p.m. NBCSWat Calgary FlamesTuesday 9 p.m. NBCSWat Edmonton OilersThursday9 p.m. NBCSWRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM),
WFED (1500 AM)Spending more time
around crease, winger
leads Capitals in goals